AGENCIES / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today partially stayed the Bombay High Court order allowing shifting of HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail to their residence. Both are accused in the multi-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) scam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, that he was assailing the high court order to the extent of allowing the release of two promoters from the prison and this needed to be stayed.
The top court agreed with the submissions of the ED and also issued notice to the respondents of the case and sought their replies within four weeks.
The bench said, the other aspects of the High Court order such as the sale of assets of the accused promoters under the supervision of High Court-appointed committee should be allowed to remain operative.
The fraud at PMC Bank came to light in September last year after the Reserve Bank of India discovered that it had allegedly created fictitious accounts to hide over 4,355 crore rupees of loans extended to almost-bankrupt HDIL.